Electric cable and method of preparing same



I d. 24 1933: w 5 JQHNSTQNE 1331,61

ELECTRIC CABLE AND METHOD OF PREPARING SAME Filed Nov. 4, 1930 Ina/claim:

Patented a. 24, 1933 UNITED STATES ELECTRIC CABLE AND METHOD or PREPARING SAME Winters S. J ohnstone,

Warren, Ohio, assignor,

by mesne assignments, to Packard Electric Corporation, Warren, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application November 4 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an insulated electric cable, provided withindicia of any desired characteristics, and the method of making the same. It has long been recognized as desirable to have 5 means for properly identifying insulated cable, both as to its nature and intended use and its source of manufacture. Heretofore it has been customary to identify insulated cables by tags or labels attached to the spools or reels on which the 1 cable is sold and, in some cases, it has been customary to weave a braid on the cable, consisting of different combinations of colors arranged to provide a distinctive design, but the latter method of identifying cable as to its source of manufac- 5 ture, or otherwise, is not applicable in a case where the outer surface of the cable is of a single color.

My invention overcomes all of the objections to previous methds of providing cable with identifying indicia and meets the requirements of the situation in a simple and thoroughly practical manner and the method which I have devised and which is described hereinafter, is readily adapted for use in connection with the modern methods of manufacturing cable on a commercial scale.

In the accompanying drawing, which is illustrative of my invention,

Fig. 1 is an exterior view of a section of cable; and

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section thereof.

Referring to the drawing, 10 indicates the usual wire core oi. the cable and 11 the usual rubber insulation surrounding the core. The usual .braid, which is commonly applied over the rubber insulation, is indicated at 12, but it will be under-' stood that the use of such braid is optional.

In carrying out my method of marking the cable, I first apply over the braid 12 or directly on the outer surface of the rubber 11, in case'no braid is used, a covering of lacquer which is indicated at 13, the thickness of the coating being exaggerated for clearn'ess. In practice, the lacquer covering 13 consists of several coats which are applied to the cable in the usual manner by running the cable through a bath of lacquer and then through a drying oven. This operation is repeated as many times as necessary to provide the desired number of coats of lacquer and, as a typical example, I use ten such coats of lacquer which are allowed to thoroughly dry. I then apply over these dried coats 15 of lacquer, two

or more additional coats 15 of lacquer which are then sufficiently dried so that the outer coat will no longer be tacky' but sufliciently firm to resist moderate abrasion and permit handling. While these outer coats 15 are in the soft condition, I print thereon the desired indicia as indicated at 14. This indicia may be printed-by suitable type or dies and I use, for that purpose, a pigmented pyroxylin ink containing a solvent, such as toluol, 6 which will penetrate the soft outer coats 15 o 1930. Serial No. 493,341

(Cl. ill-67.9)

lacquer so that the pigment, which is of a color to contrast with the lacquer covering on the cable, will be thoroughly embedded in the soft outer coats of lacquer, and become an integral part thereof. when these soft outer coats are subsequently dried.

By the method described, the ink by which the indicia .is applied to the cable, is caused to penetrate so deeply into the soft outer coats of lacquer that the indicia will remain on the cable even after the latter has been subjected to severe abrasion in use. As is well known, ordinary inks, when applied over a covering, such as lacquer, would be merely of a superficial nature and capable of being readily rubbed oil when the cable is subjected to abrasion but this disadvantage is overcome by the method which I employ and in which the ink is caused to penetrate through the outer coats of lacquer and become an integral part thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The hereindescribed method of applying indicia to a lacquer covered cable which consists in first applying a plurality of coats of lacquer and drying them sufliciently to remove substantially all of the lacquer solvent, then applying one or more additional coats of lacquer and partially drying the latter to form a surface that is sufliciently firm to resist moderate abrasion, and then, while said additional coats are in a soft and partially dried condition, applying thereto, so as to form said indicia, a pigmented material of a color contrasting with the color of said additional coats, saldpigmented material containing a solvent for said additional coats whereby the pig-- mented material will be caused to penetrate said additional coats.

2. The hereindescribed method of applying indicia to'a lacquer covered cable which consists in first applying a plurality of coats of lacquer,

and then and before the outer coats of lacquer are v wm'mas s. Jonns'rona- 

